December 2011
13 posts
November 2011
22 posts
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Book Burning →
ala.org
The American Library Association responds to the destruction of the People’s Library during the raid on Zuccotti Park:
American Library Association (ALA) President Molly Raphael released the following statement regarding the destruction of the People’s Library:
“The dissolution of a library is unacceptable. Libraries serve as the cornerstone of our democracy and must be safeguarded. An informed public constitutes the very foundation of a democracy, and libraries ensure that everyone has free access to information.
“The very existence of the People’s Library demonstrates that libraries are an organic part of all communities. Libraries serve the needs of community members and preserve the record of community history. In the case of the People’s Library, this included irreplaceable records and material related to the occupation movement and the temporary community that it represented.
A Poem by Melissa Ginsburg
Squab
I was in love in the library. I had a perch, and a future
life in symbols. I’d been listening to the radio.
The kitchen bubbled a bath of wilting leaves, a sauce
thick with blood and a half spoon of vinegar.
In the hall of books the swinging perch and doll eyes wobbled.
A song came on. A dove song.
Empty of bones full of liver without gall my heart
open, the blood clot which forms in the middle removed.
Arrange my heart on a round plate. It is a small heart
and a small plate, the doll’s a girl at the window plays with.
Stop, warm library. Stop, square window, tender symbol. Stop
little girl the peacemaker, wooden grip and polished nickel.
She was going to miss me, miss all of us.
She was hungry; it was late.
©Melissa Ginsburg
(Published at Iowa Writes)
Are They Going to Dump Red Paint on Him Too? →
latimesblogs.latimes.com
PETA says,
“When on a mission to rescue the princess, Mario has been known to use whatever means necessary to defeat his enemy — even wearing the skin of a raccoon dog to give him special powers.
Tanooki may be just a suit in the game, but in real life tanuki are raccoon dogs who are skinned alive for their fur. By wearing a Tanooki, Mario is sending the message that it is OK to wear fur.”
Speak, Sister →
nytimes.com
What would banking look like if bonuses were eliminated? It would not be too different from what it was like when I was a bank intern in the 1980s, before the wave of deregulation that culminated in the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era law that had separated investment and commercial banking. Before then, bankers and lenders were boring “lifers.” Banking was bland and predictable; the chairman’s income was less than that of today’s junior trader. Investment banks, which paid bonuses and weren’t allowed to lend, were partnerships with skin in the game, not gamblers playing with other people’s money.
Ravers and Time Travellers Re-Record History →
bbc.co.uk
“From roughly 1991 to 2000, untold young people across the country packed into nightclubs, warehouses, catering halls - anywhere that could hold a sound system and a few hundred sweaty teenagers - and danced through the night. The hallmarks of the scene were baggy trousers, brightly coloured, loose-fitting clothing, accessories like baby pacifiers and ski-goggles - and drugs.”
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